


Intervention

by SadieSwensonsEarmuffs



Category: Euphoria (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, F/F, Hurt, Implied/Referenced Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 02:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20202319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadieSwensonsEarmuffs/pseuds/SadieSwensonsEarmuffs
Summary: Maddy thinks her and Cassie are heading out to party, but the latter has something different in mind.





	Intervention

“Yeah, I think she’s still up in our room.” Lexi told the girl on her doorstep, deciding not to dwell again on how she could be wearing so little when it was already dark and cold out. It was more than usual at least, though she was still showing off a ton of skin. 

“Thanks babe!” Maddy said happily as she pushed past Lexi and into her house, looking over her shoulder at the brunette as she walked. “Is Kat already here? BB?” Lexi shrugged in reply.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so.” But by the time she was answering Maddy’s question the girl she had aimed it at was already around the corner and darting up the stairs towards her and Cassie’s room.

It had been a long, stressful and gruelling couple of days for Maddy ever since the fair. She had long since forgiven Nate for his little slip at the fair, and yet the rest of the world seemed determined to punish him for what she knew was just a mistake. She’d been dragged through humiliating talks at the principal’s office, interrogated harshly by police officers, and worst of all, made to think that _ her _ Nate would purposefully hurt her like some kind of monster. They just didn’t understand. She knew that, he knew that, and even though she would do anything to protect her boyfriend, a little part of her couldn’t help but feel bad when she pointed to that guy from the party as the one that had grabbed her. Why had he looked in such bad shape? She didn’t want to think about it. Right now, she didn’t really want to think about anything.

That’s why she was so excited to have this night out, no drama, no stress, just her and her girlfriends heading out to a party Cassie had found them. She hadn’t mentioned where they were even going, but Maddy didn’t care. She just wanted to get drunk someplace and dance and sing and let everything that was going on slip out of her mind. Chokers had never been her thing, but she’d had this thick one sitting around that she slipped on after applying as much foundation as she could to cover up the bruises. They were fading, but not fast enough for her liking. She wasn’t even sure if the choker was going to cover them up or draw more attention to them, but after an hour wiping makeup on her neck she didn’t really care.

A smile came over her face as she reached the end of the hallway where the door to Cassie and Lexi’s room sat. There was no such thing as knocking when it came to a Maddy entrance, and so she just grabbed the door handle and flung it open to greet her bestie.

“Sup biiitch!” Maddy called as she looked over at Cassie’s side of the room, where the blonde girl was sitting on her bed. She looked weirdly startled by her entrance. Wasn’t she used to it by now? 

“Maddy! Hey.” Cassie replied, bouncing slightly on her bed to stand up on her bare feet. It only took a second for Maddy to notice something that was off. She was usually pretty consistent with being one of the least dressed people at any given party, but Cassie often gave her a run for her money… Yet she wasn’t even wearing party clothes. Hell, she wasn’t even wearing _ normal _clothes. They looked more like her pajamas! It didn’t look like she was wearing any makeup either, aside from a little that was probably just leftover from the day. In other words, not what Cassie Howard wore to a party.

“I’m sorry, are we going to a slumber party or something?” Maddy snorted, just assuming this would be easily explained and they’d be on their way to a real party soon enough. She was in the mood to party, something Cassie didn’t seem to be reflecting as she awkwardly rubbed her arm.

“No, I…” Cassie started, stopping to take a breath before walking past Maddy and closing the bedroom door. Something was going on. 

“Cassie, the fuck?” Maddy complained, watching the blonde walk back to her bed and beginning to grow a little annoyed at how weird Cassie was acting. “Are we going to this party or not? You don’t even look like you are. And where’s Kat? Or BB?”

“Maddy…” Cassie didn’t seem to know where to start. She was sitting back on the bed now, eyes only momentarily meeting with Maddy’s before they looked away again. “I’m sorry, this seemed like a better idea in my head. I’ve just been really wanting to talk to you lately, alone, away from hi-” She stopped herself in her tracks and cleared her throat. “Away from other people. I know I probably should have just asked you, but… I just didn’t know if you would.”

“...What?” Maddy was just growing more confused by the second. Cassie took another breath, this one shakier than the last.

“Who was it that… That hurt you at the carnival?”

Maddy’s blood run cold. It was like a fight or flight response, not for her safety, but for Nate’s. Why was she questioning her? She knew that the guy who had done it had been caught and was rotting in jail now. There was no need to question her. The police had done enough! Did she know something? Was she going to do something that could hurt Nate? She had to stop it. 

“What the fuck? It was that… Guy! I don’t even remember his name, but they found the creep.” She felt like she was being backed into a corner, just like she had been at the police station or the principal’s office. But this time she wasn’t being stared down by cops or her entire family… It was just Cassie. Harmless, innocent Cassie. And where fear and distress had arisen before, anger was beginning to fill her now. 

“Please, Maddy, don’t be upset with me!” Cassie jumped to her feet again as the other girl’s voice began to rise. “Please, please, I just want to talk a little! We can go find a party or something afterwards, promise!”

“Well it can’t be about this.” Maddy jabbed angrily just an inch away from the raw skin of her neck. “It’s done, okay? I _ obviously _ don’t want to talk about it. It was like, traumatic!” It was a simple rule Maddy thought, don’t ask about that fucking night, but Cassie didn’t look like she was going to follow it.

“I just… I’m not implying anything, honest. It’s just this feeling I’ve been getting, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Cassie insisted. “I just know that guys can be… Really convincing, you know? And I thought we’re besties, maybe if we were alone and I _ promised _ I wouldn’t tell anyone that you…”

“That I would just _ lie _ and say that Nate did this to me?!” Maddy was shouting now, and Cassie jumped back in surprise.

“Maddy, I-I didn’t mention Nate…”

“But you were going to, weren’t you? Ugh, you’re just as bad as Hayes and the cops! I don’t know what your problem with him is, he’s kind and sweet and he’s protected me!"

“_Everybody _thinks it was Nate, Maddy!” Cassie was beginning to raise her voice as well, but with absolutely none of the confidence. It was just so she could even be heard over her friend. 

“Please, I know what it’s like when guys like him ask you to do things for him. You really want to, but…”

“Oh please, like you know anything. If you know what bad guys are like why do you keep fucking getting with them, huh?”

Cassie was aghast. Neither of them were talking now. Maddy could feel a hollow, aching pit in her stomach as she realized what she’d just said. She had always been protective of Cassie and had held her through all sorts of bad relationships and break-ups… Why had she said that? But her mind was only allowing her this brief moment of clarity, the angry, defensive thoughts beginning to cloud it all up again.

“Mckay… Mckay’s not…”

“Then why the fuck did you go and pull that shit on the ferris wheel, huh? With that guy that was _ not _Mckay?” The more she talked the more that little part of her mind screamed at her to stop, and the more it tried the more the rest didn’t let her. “If we wanna talk about things everybody knows then everybody knows about that. Or maybe...”

“Maddy, don’t.”

“Maybe we should talk about those _ pictures. _”

Cassie let out a squeal and hid her face in her hands, a sob breaking through as she shook her head desperately.

“I’m sorry.” She said as she finally pulled her head up to look at Maddy again, her eyes red and wet with tears now. She was just trying to help one of her best friends, but she wished she’d never done it. “Let’s, let’s just drop it, please, I’m so sorry, we don’t-”

“You don’t get to just insult my boyfriend and get to pretend like it’s nothing, _ bitch. _ ” Maddy interrupted her with a growl. She’d directed a _ bitch _ towards Cassie plenty of times, but never with that tone. Never like that. Before the blonde could blubber anything more Maddy threw up her arms and awkwardly turned on her heel, a hard thing to do in high heels, and pulled the door open. “I don’t need to take this. I’m going.”

“Maddy wait-!” Maddy didn’t even look at her bestie as she walked through the door and slammed it shut behind her, immediately moving down the hallway and towards the stairs as fast as she could. She was fine. Cassie had tried to hurt her Nate and she’d dealt with it. There was nothing for her to get upset over. Nothing at all. Just had to get down the stairs and…

“The hell’s going on up there?”

“_SHUT UP! _” Maddy’s voice cracked into practically a shriek as Lexi appeared at the bottom of the stairs, that one little surprise question breaking what little composure she had left and making her burst into tears. She stumbled down the stairs and pushed a surprised Lexi out of the way, almost tripping over herself as she made a run for the front door and burst outside. 

It was taking everything Maddy had to not just fall over on Cassie’s driveway and cry right then and there. She’d yelled at her best friend, screamed at her things she thought she’d never use against her in a million years, and now she was just running away. She couldn’t even drive away, the Uber she’d taken over here was long gone. It was so much colder now.

_ It’s for Nate. _ She told herself, trying to stem the tears and sobs that were flowing out uncontrollably now. _ You’re protecting him. You did good. He’ll be happy about this. He’ll love you even more now. Nate... He's what matters._

Maddy slowly took off her heels and, telling herself not to turn around and look at Cassie’s window, began to walk home in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> I admit I went into this thinking it was going to be a little lighter than what I ended up with, but oh well... Any feedback would be appreciated, I think Maddy's feelings for Nate are really complicated and I wanted to write them well.


End file.
